The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus for forming images on media using developer that includes toner.
In an image forming apparatus such as a printer and the like, an image pattern that is composed of toner is fixed on paper (medium) and outputted. When doing this, a developer is used in which toner particles formed of a resin material or the like as a dye that will be a toner component, and carrier particles (carrier) that are made of magnetic material and that are larger than the toner particles are mixed in a powder state, and an electric charge is applied to the toner particles. On the other hand, an electric potential distribution that corresponds to an image pattern to be formed is applied to a photosensitive drum, and a magnetic field is applied to a developing roller. By supplying developer between the photosensitive drum and the developing roller, carrier particles adhere to the developing roller, and an image pattern composed of toner particles is formed on the photosensitive drum. After the toner pattern on this photosensitive drum is transferred to paper, the toner pattern is fixed to the paper by heating the toner image by a fixing heating roller, and an image is formed.
Here, after this operation is repeated, toner particles in the developer may become scattered inside the apparatus. In such a case, the scattered toner particles may adhere to the paper separately from the image pattern described above, causing defects in the outputted image. Therefore, there is a need to suppress this kind of scattering of toner particles inside the apparatus, and in a typical image forming apparatus, in order to achieve this, a particle counter (minute particle measuring device) is provided inside the apparatus, and with this particle counter, the concentration of the toner particles that are scattered in air is measured. When it is determined that this concentration is high, an operation for suppressing the scattering of toner particles can be automatically performed. As a result, it is possible to perform the operation of the image forming apparatus while suppressing the scattering of toner particles. Alternatively, it is possible to issue a warning to a user and to cause a user to perform maintenance.